A seminal moment at last year’s Berlin International Film Festival was when Bosnian Roma actor Nazif Mujic won the best actor award. The director of this years festival which opens next week has announced he is trying to help Mujic get asylum in Germany and has hired a lawyer to advise him.

The actor has been in Berlin since November where he was lauded 12 months ago but he is now facing deportation after his asylum bid was rejected. Germany considers Bosnia politically stable.

“I came to Berlin to live a normal life. In Bosnia Herzegovina people betrayed me, thinking that I have a lot of money,” Mujic explained.

The 43-year-old made a triumphant return to his village after the awards ceremony. He claims he and his wife made only 100 euros per day during the 27-day shoot. HIs hopes of becoming a full time actor have been dashed with no offers.

The movie – An Episode in the Life of an Iron PIcker- tells of Mujic’s real-life struggle to save his wife’s life after a miscarriage.

The actor claims the director of the low budget movie Danis Tanovic has turned his back on him. Tanovic – in a newspaper article said he had always treated Mujic with respect and wishes he could have helped him more.